Three-dimensional display apparatus
A three-dimensional image display apparatus comprising a display panel, which displays a parallel projection image corresponding to a three-dimensional image, and an array plate disposed on a front of the display panel and having pinholes arranged two-dimensionally. The display panel includes pixels arranged two-dimensionally in correspondence with the pinholes. Each of the pixels can include a first subpixel, a second subpixel, and a third subpixel. The apparatus also includes a point at which a line passing through one of the pinholes from the first subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, a point at which a line passing through the one of the pinholes from the second subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, and a point at which a line passing through the one of the pinholes from the third subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image being separated from one another.
Latest Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Patents:
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2002-92455, filed Mar. 28, 2002; and No. 2002-97048, filed Mar. 29, 2002, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of three-dimensional display methods to enable a three-dimensional display used in amusement, Internet shopping, carrying terminal, medical care, virtual reality, an advertisement signboard, and so on, there is a stereoscope system that displays plane images for right and left eyes on a display screen, to watch the right eye plane image with the right eye and the left eye plane image with the left eye, using polarized light.
The stereoscope system requires polarized glasses for a viewer, for example, in order to see the right eye plane image with the right eye and the left eye plane image with the left eye. This stereoscope system can make an image seen three-dimensionally. However since it does not play back three-dimensional image really, even if the viewer changes position to look at the image, the image does not change. In other words, even if the viewer changes the position to look at the side and top face of the image, he or she cannot see the side and top face of the image. Therefore, the stereoscope system has a problem in reality.
Further, in the stereoscope system, an accommodation position exists on a display screen, a spatial displacement occurs between the accommodation position and the convergence location at which a gaze object exists. More specifically, mismatch occurs between accommodation and convergence distance, and a playback space makes a viewer feel sense of incongruity, to be easy to give fatigue to the viewer.
As a three-dimensional display method for solving these problems is known a method referred to as an integral photography method or a light beam reproduction method using a great number of parallax images (Jpn. pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication 10-239785, and Jpn. pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-56450). The method records a three-dimensional image by means of some manners and plays back it as a three-dimensional image. The integral photography method or light beam reproduction method is not established in semantics of a vocabulary as a three-dimensional display method precisely, but based on approximately the same principle. An integral photography using a pinhole array plate, for example, is well known from a long time ago. This can be referred to as the light beam reproduction method. An integral photography method as a concept including a light beam playback method will be described hereinafter.
A three-dimensional display apparatus using the integral photography method comprises a display device such as a liquid crystal display panel and an array plate having pinholes arrayed two-dimensionally, and plays back a natural three-dimensional image by a simple optical system. The integral photography method can form a natural three-dimensional image with a simple configuration. Since the integral photography method reproduces a three-dimensional image really, polarized glasses are not required, and the observed three-dimensional image changes in correspondence with the angle at which a viewer watches the three-dimensional image. Thus, the three-dimensional image represents a feeling of more reality. However, it is difficult that the integral photography method reproduces a high definition three-dimensional image. Since the integral photography method plays back a three-dimensional image using light beams emitted from element image via a pinhole, three-dimensional image must be displayed using many element images that are arranged two-dimensionally.
Light beams of a desired color and luminance are emitted from a pixel (referred to as triplet) having subpixels of R (red), G (green) and B (blue) through a pinhole. Increase of the number of light beams emitted from the pinhole increases the three-dimensional effect. However, since the number of pixels of a display panel is limited, the number of pinholes also is limited. In other words, since the number of pinholes is equal to the number of plane pixels usable as the three-dimensional display, the three-dimensional image is missed in fineness.
Further, the integral photography method or light beam reproduction method needs data compression due to a great amount of data. The definition of the reproduced three-dimensional image deteriorates significantly due to this data compression.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a three-dimensional display apparatus that can display a high definition three-dimensional image.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a three-dimensional image display apparatus comprising: a display panel which displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed; and an array plate disposed on a front of the display panel and having a plurality of pinholes arranged two-dimensionally to form the three-dimensional image on a front or a rear of the array plate, wherein the display panel includes a number of pixels arranged two-dimensionally in correspondence with the pinholes, wherein each of the pixels comprises a first subpixel, a second subpixel and a third subpixel, and wherein a first intersection point, a second intersection point and a third intersection point are formed at the three-dimensional image and are separated from one another, the first intersection point being formed where a first line that passes through one of the pinholes from the first subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, the second intersection point being formed where a second line that passes through the one of the pinholes from the second subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, and the third intersection point being formed where a third line that passes through the one of the pinholes from the third subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a three-dimensional image display apparatus comprising: a display panel which displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed; and an array plate disposed on a front of the display panel and having a plurality of microlens arranged two-dimensionally to form the three-dimensional image on a front or a rear of the array plate, wherein the display panel includes a number of pixels arranged two-dimensionally in correspondence with the microlens, wherein each of the pixels comprises a first subpixel, a second subpixel and a third subpixel, and wherein a first intersection point, a second intersection point and a third intersection point are formed at the three-dimensional image and are separated from one another, the first intersection point being formed where a first line that passes through one of the microlens from the first subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, the second intersection point being formed where a second line that passes through the one of the microlens from the second subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, and the third intersection point being formed where a third line that passes through the one of the microlens from the third subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image.
A three-dimensional image display of the present invention will now be described concretely with reference to drawings. The present invention is attained paying attention to a human eye has a characteristic that is sensitive to luminance, but insensitive to a color. Further, the present invention pays attention to that color separation is a few because a group of different color light beams overlaps in space.
FIRST EMBODIMENTThe three-dimensional image display apparatus shown in
On the liquid-crystal display panel 11 located on the rear of the pinhole board 12 with respect to a viewer is displayed a parallel projection image formed from a multiple-viewpoint image which is a number of patterns corresponding to a group of parallax images whose appearances subtly vary depending upon the angle of view. The light beams irradiated from these multiple-viewpoint images passes through the corresponding pinholes 121, respectively, to form a group of parallax image light beams. The parallax image light beams are condensed to reconstruct a three-dimensional image 22.
In this case, the smallest unit for driving the display panel is each subpixel, that is, R (red), G (green) or B (blue). A pixel is formed by three subpixels R, G and B.
The points where the lines passing through the center of the pinhole 121 from the subpixels R, G and B intersect a three-dimensional image are separated into R, G and B as shown on the right side in
This three-dimensional display apparatus plays back a three-dimensional image by means of the light beams emitted from the subpixels of R, G and B. n subpixels R, G and B emit light beams via the corresponding pinhole as element images. The intersection of the light beams is a new luminescence point. When the pinhole is sufficiently larger than the subpixel in size, n may be an arbitrary natural number. When the pinhole is approximately equal to or smaller than the subpixel in size, it is desirable that n should not be a multiple of 3. If n is a multiple of 3, when an image is observed from a certain inspection position, all light beams become the same color. When n is not a multiple of 3, the display apparatus makes a state that the light beams of subpixels R, G and B emit from each pinhole in turn.
The pinhole may be a rectangle of 50 μm wide×150 μm long in correspondence with the size of a single subpixel. As a result, the number of the light beams can be largely increased. Therefore, the high definition three-dimensional image can be played back.
When a display panel of, for example, 1024×768 pixels and a pixel pitch of 150 μm is used, even if the number of the light beams of a horizontal direction per one pinhole is 16, the number of pixels of the horizontal direction is 1024×3÷16=192. The pixel pitch is 50 μm×16=800 μm. Even if the same display panel is used, the definition of the image can be extensively improved in comparison with the conventional display apparatus.
Since the light beams of the subpixels R, G and B are emitted from each pinhole in turn with respect to color information, the light beams from three pinholes give a viewer color information.
SECOND EMBODIMENTA plurality of collar pinholes having colors R, G and B or a plurality of microlens with color filters are provided every element image pattern. In the present embodiment, the pinholes or microlens are further separated and disposed.
A parallel projection image formed from a multiple-viewpoint image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 11, and the pinhole array 124 is disposed before the display panel 11.
A number of pattern images are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 11. The light beams emitted from the pattern images are condensed via corresponding pinholes 125 and played back as a three-dimensional image.
In this embodiment, color filters are installed in the pinholes. A multiple-viewpoint image comprises an array of subpixels R, G and B. The pinholes or microlens are separately arranged in correspondence with each subpixel. A three-dimensional image is played back by a group of light beams passing through collar pinholes of the same color from the subpixels.
This three-dimensional display apparatus plays back a three-dimensional image by the light beams emitted from the subpixels of R, G and B and passed through the pinholes provided with color filters of the same color. For this case, the number of the light beam images is three times that of the images obtained by a single pinhole. Since a color liquid crystal display can be used as a pinhole plate with a color filter, the present embodiment can be carried out extremely simple and easy. When a pixel of the color liquid crystal display is displayed in red, only the subpixel R can pass a red light beam. This color liquid crystal display has a function similar to that of the pinhole with a red color filter.
In the three-dimensional display apparatus shown in the present embodiment, a high quality three-dimensional image is viewed. In addition, if the color of the color filter is changed with time by something means, more natural three-dimensional image can be provided. If the color of a certain pixel is sequentially changed into R, G and B, using, for example, a color liquid crystal display, approximately the same effect as what the color of a color filter is changed can be obtained. The position of the pinhole is displaced by a size of the subpixel, but the multiple-viewpoint image is formed corresponding to the displacement. The number of the light beams can be increased by this method and further the luminescence points increase. As a result, a high definition three-dimensional image can be obtained.
THIRD EMBODIMENTThis three-dimensional image display apparatus comprises a display panel 11 which displays two-dimensionally a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed, and an array plate 12 disposed on the front or rear face of the display panel 11 and including a plurality of pinholes 121 or microlens which are two-dimensionally arranged in correspondence with the plurality of patterns.
The display panel 11 comprises a great number of pixels each having subpixels R, G and B each of which is the smallest unit for driving the display panel, the points at which the lines passing through the center of each pinhole (or microlens) 121 from the subpixels intersect the three-dimensional image 22 to be displayed separates from one another. In this time, it is necessary to decide the luminance of each subpixel adequately.
As shown in
For example, the R subpixel on top is decided by an R component of luminance at a point corresponding to a circle depicted on a line in
As described above, since the three-dimensional image 22 is played back by a group of these light beams, the high definition three-dimensional image can be played back by a method to be simple and easy.
FOURTH EMBODIMENTAs described in the first embodiment, the playback of the high definition three-dimensional image can be realized by the configuration that the points at which lines passing through the center of pinhole or microlens from the subpixels cross the three-dimensional image to be displayed are separated to one another. However, when the three-dimensional image is watched closely near thereto, some color separation can be observed. For this case, the color separation is improved by using a subpixel having a plurality of colors instead of each subpixel of R, G or B that are the smallest unit.
In the present embodiment, each of subpixels R, G and B which is the smallest drive unit is rectangular. The subpixels R, G and B are vertically arranged along a longitudinal direction of the rectangle. In this case, similarly to the first embodiment, the points at which the lines passing through the center of the pinhole or microlens intersects the three-dimensional image to be displayed are separated from one another. As a result, the high definition three-dimensional image can be played back.
SIXTH EMBODIMENTThe three-dimensional display apparatus of the present embodiment comprises a display panel which two-dimensionally displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to the three-dimensional image to be displayed and an array plate disposed on the front or rear of the display panel and provided with a plurality of pinholes or a plurality of microlens in correspondence with the plurality of patterns, similarly to the former embodiments. This three-dimensional display apparatus displays a three-dimensional image on at least one of the rear and front of the array plate on which pinholes or microlens are arranged two-dimensionally. The display panel which displays an image two-dimensionally includes a plurality of rectangle subpixels arranged in a matrix. The subpixels of different colors are arranged periodically in a longitudinal direction. The subpixels of the same color are arranged in a horizontal direction.
According to this construction, when viewed the display panel in a horizontal direction, the number of pixels comprising a set of R, G and B (triplet) is a multiple of 3. The number of the light beams in a horizontal direction can be increased by a method to be very simple and easy in this way. Therefore, the high definition three-dimensional image can be played back. In the present embodiment, a visual line is assigned to a set of subsets R, G and B, i.e., a triplet in a vertical direction. For this reason, the number of visual lines in a vertical direction decreases. However, this is no problem since the number of the visual lines in the horizontal direction is more important in three-dimensional vision.
SEVENTH EMBODIMENTThe present embodiment is similar to the sixth embodiment, and rectangular subpixels different in color in a vertical direction are arranged periodically in a longitudinal direction. A visual line is assigned to three subpixels in the vertical direction. However, in the present embodiment, a rectangular subpixel displays a plurality of colors.
When one color is assigned to one rectangular subpixel, a pixel including a set of R, G and B is long in a vertical direction. When the longitudinal length of the subpixel is 150 μm, the longitudinal length of the pixel is 450 μm. For this reason, when viewing an image near the display panel, color separation may occur in the longitudinal direction. Thus, in this embodiment, each subpixel is covered by a two-color filter. The first subpixel is covered by a R-G color filter, the second subpixel by a B-R color filter and the third subpixel by a G-B color filter. The first to third subpixels are periodically repeated.
It is assumed that an area ratio of the filter regions of the two colors is, for example, 1:1.
Assuming the luminance of the subpixels of R, G and B are X, Y and Z when one pixel is covered by a one-color filter. In the present embodiment, the luminance X of subpixels displaying R and G is determined by
x=(X+Y−Z)/2B
the luminance y of subpixels displaying B and R is determined by
y=(X−Y+Z)/2G
the luminance z of subpixels displaying G and B is determined by
z=(−X+Y+Z)/2.
The luminance of the light beams of an R component that are emitted from these three subpixels is expressed by a sum of the luminance x of the light beam from the first subpixel and the luminance y of the light beam from the second subpixel. However, since x+y=X, the luminance is the same as the original luminance. The luminance of light beams of each of G and B components is the same as that of the R component. However, in this embodiment, the colors near three primary colors cannot be played back.
More preferably, a ratio of two color regions of the two-color filter can be set to 10:1, for example. In this case, the luminance x of subpixels displaying R and G can be approximately determined by
x=(100×X+Y−10×Z)/100
the luminance y of subpixels displaying B and R can be approximately determined by
y=(X−10×Y+100×Z)/100
the luminance z of subpixels displaying G and B can be approximately determined by
z=(−10×X+100×Y+Z)/100
In this way, the three-dimensional display apparatus can keep color separation very small without hindrance almost in color playback, and plays back a high definition three-dimensional image.
As shown in
The three-dimensional display apparatus of the present embodiment comprises a display panel which two-dimensionally displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed and an array plate disposed on the front or rear of the display panel and provided with a plurality of pinholes or a plurality of microlens in correspondence with the plurality of patterns, similarly to the former embodiments. The display panel displaying the parallel projection image two-dimensionally comprises a number of rectangle subpixels that differ in color in a lengthwise direction and are periodically arranged in a longitudinal direction. The points at which lines passing through the center of a pinhole or a microlens from the rectangular subpixels cross the three-dimensional image are separated. A plurality of colors are displayed by one rectangular subpixel.
A three-dimensional image is displayed on at least one of the back and front of the array plate on which pinholes or microlens are arranged two-dimensionally.
The first to sixteenth horizontal parallaxes are assigned to the subpixels in a horizontal direction, and the first to fifth vertical parallaxes are assigned to subpixels in a vertical direction. A color is played back by three vertical subpixels. The embodiment also can plays back a high definition three-dimensional image.
NINTH EMBODIMENTThis figure shows a recording image comprising groups of image elements for displaying a circle three-dimensionally. Each image element is approximately equal to an image obtained by photographing an object with a minute lens. The image element is not limited to photography, and may be drawn in computer graphics. A group of such image elements are displayed so as to correspond to pinholes one by one. The light beam from each pixel passes through the corresponding pinhole. A three-dimensional real image is formed on the front of an array plate having pinholes by condensing the light beam. The image is entropy-encoded by quantizing the DCT coefficients obtained by processing the image using a discrete cosine transform (DCT) as an orthogonal transform, to generate compressed image data. The compressed image data is used as recording image data. This compressed image data is decompressed by an entropy decoding, an inverse dequantization and a discrete cosine inverse transformation to reconstruct an image. In this time, a block to be subjected to a discrete cosine transform is set so as to completely coincide with an image element as shown by dotted lines in
In this embodiment, a recorded parallel projection image is displayed on a display panel. Light beams from subpixels of R, G and B pass through the corresponding pinholes and are condensed. As a result, a three dimensional real image is formed on the front of an array plate having pinholes.
Subpixels R, G, B, . . . are extracted in turn from an image element configured by upper subpixels as shown in
Also, in this case, a good three-dimensional image can be played back. This is based on the reason that the image which the subpixels has been rearranged in order is an image watched from a certain viewpoint, and includes no specific unit such as an image element of an image similar to a normal photography image, namely has no periodicity. Therefore, if the image is subjected to a conventional compression, there is little degradation in image quality. As a result, a compression technique such as JPEG or MPEG can be applied to the present apparatus as it is. Other methods can be used. However, it is desirable that an orthogonal transform is performed in units of two exponentiation, because a high-speed arithmetic processing can be done. This compressed image is stored as data. If the subpixels are rearranged back again when a three-dimensional image is played back, a good three-dimensional image is provided.
There will now be described an operation of the three-dimensional image playback apparatus of
An optical disc unit such as DVD and a magnetic disk unit such as HDD may be used as the recording medium 23. The image data decompression may be performed by processing algorithm in software using a computer, or by using a dedicated unit including LSI in which algorithm is installed. A liquid crystal display is used for the three-dimensional image display unit 25 to display the recorded image three-dimensionally. The three-dimensional image can be played back by arranging a pinhole array on the front of the liquid crystal display. By such a configuration, a high definition three-dimensional image can be played back with a little data amount.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, compressed recording image data is transmitted to a remote location using a transmission channel such as an optical fiber, transmission data is decompressed to reconstruct a three-dimensional image. A self emission type display such as a plasma display and an organic EL display can be used other than the liquid crystal display.
The three-dimensional image display apparatus can be realized by using a parallel projection image. An image forming method of forming this parallel projection image is described hereinafter.
The method forms barn image data used for displaying a three-dimensional image by an integral photography method. For this reason, as shown in
In step S102, a viewpoint is decided on an elongation of a line (visual line) connecting a pixel of a display panel to a pinhole or the center of a lens. In
In step S103, an object is projected on a plane including the viewpoint in a direction of the visual line by a parallel projection to form a projection image thereon. In
If the projection image is drawn on the plane 204, pixels are sampled vertically and horizontally from the pixel paid attention to first in a constant period. The sampled pixel data is transferred to the other screen. In
The sampled pixel data includes color data and luminance data to be displayed on each pixel, for example. These pixel data are transferred to a semiconductor memory or hard disk in which an available area capable of storing the image data is reserved by a computer.
In this way, if the pixel data along the visual line of a certain direction is acquired, the process returns to step S102, to decide again a viewpoint on the elongation of a line (visual line) connecting the pixel on the display screen to the pinhole or center of the lens. For example, in
In step S103, a plane 304 including a viewpoint 502A is assumed. The object 203 is projected on the plane 203 along the visual line 402A by the parallel projection.
In step S104, pixel data in viewpoints 502A, 502B, 502C, 502D . . . are sampled from a projection image of the object 203 that is drawn on the plane 204, and transferred to the image memory of the computer.
In this way, the pixel data to be displayed on pixels 302A-302D are generated to display the image obtained when the viewer 211 observes the object 203 from a direction of visual lines 402A-402D, and stored in the image memory. Thereafter, it is checked whether all pixels have been processed (S105). Steps S102 to S104 are repeated till all pixels are processed. The process is finished when all pixels have been processed. If the pixel data generated in this way are synthesized, the pattern image to be displayed on the display panel 201 in order to display three-dimensionally the object 203 is generated.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A three-dimensional image display apparatus comprising:
- a display panel which displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed; and
- an array plate disposed on a front of the display panel and having a plurality of pinholes arranged two-dimensionally to form the three-dimensional image on a front or a rear of the array plate,
- wherein the display panel includes a number of pixels arranged two-dimensionally in correspondence with the pinholes, wherein each of the pixels comprises a first subpixel, a second subpixel and a third subpixel, and wherein
- a first intersection point, a second intersection point and a third intersection point are formed at the three-dimensional image and are separated from one another, the first intersection point being formed where a first line that passes through one of the pinholes from the first subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, the second intersection point being formed where a second line that passes through the one of the pinholes from the second subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, and the third intersection point being formed where a third line that passes through the one of the pinholes from the third subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of pixels are divided into a plurality of pixel groups, and a given number of the pinholes are arranged for each of the pixel groups.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first subpixel is a red subpixel, the second subpixel is a green subpixel, and the third subpixel is a blue subpixel.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a luminance of each of the subpixels is calculated from a luminance of one of the intersection points.
5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each of the subpixels is made up of a multi-color subpixel which can display a plurality of colors.
6. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each of the subpixels is rectangular, and wherein each of the subpixels is disposed in a substantially vertical direction along its longitudinal axis.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subpixels of the display panel comprises a plurality of subpixel groups, each of the subpixel groups including a plurality of rectangular subpixels for indicating different colors, and arranged periodically in a longitudinal direction of the rectangular subpixels.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the rectangular subpixels comprises a multi-color subpixel which can display a plurality of colors.
9. Three-dimensional image playback equipment comprising:
- an image forming unit configured to generate image data of a parallel projection pictorial image formed from a plurality of patterns;
- a compression unit configured to compress the image data;
- a decompression unit configured to decompress the compressed image data and to generate decompressed image data corresponding to the parallel projection pictorial image; and
- the three-dimensional image display apparatus according to claim 1 which displays the three-dimensional image based on the decompressed image data.
10. A three-dimensional image display apparatus comprising:
- a display panel which displays a parallel projection image formed from a plurality of patterns corresponding to a three-dimensional image to be displayed; and
- an array plate disposed on a front of the display panel and having a plurality of microlens arranged two-dimensionally to form the three-dimensional image on a front or a rear of the array plate,
- wherein the display panel includes a number of pixels arranged two-dimensionally in correspondence with the microlens, wherein each of the pixels comprises a first subpixel, a second subpixel and a third subpixel, and wherein
- a first intersection point, a second intersection point and a third intersection point are formed at the three-dimensional image and are separated from one another, the first intersection point being formed where a first line that passes through one of the microlens from the first subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, the second intersection point being formed where a second line that passes through the one of the microlens from the second subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image, and the third intersection point being formed where a third line that passes through the one of the microlens from the third subpixel intersects the three-dimensional image.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the number of pixels are divided into a plurality of pixel groups, and a given number of the microlens are arranged for each of the pixel groups.
12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the first subpixel is a red subpixel, the second subpixel is a green subpixel, and the third subpixel is a blue subpixel.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a luminance of each of the subpixels is calculated from a luminance of one of the intersection points.
14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of the subpixels is made up of a multi-color subpixel which can display a plurality of colors.
15. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of the subpixels is rectangular, and wherein each of the subpixels is disposed in a substantially vertical direction along its longitudinal axis.
16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the subpixels of the display panel comprises a plurality of subpixel groups, each of the subpixel groups including a plurality of rectangular subpixels for indicating different colors, and arranged periodically in a longitudinal direction of the rectangular subpixels.
17. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein each of the rectangular subpixels comprises a multi-color subpixel which can display a plurality of colors.
18. Three-dimensional image playback equipment comprising:
- an image forming unit configured to generate image data of a parallel projection pictorial image formed from a plurality of patterns;
- a compression unit configured to compress the image data;
- a decompression unit configured to decompress the compressed image data and to generate decompressed image data corresponding to the parallel projection pictorial image; and
- the three-dimensional image display apparatus according to claim 10 which displays the three-dimensional image based on the decompressed image data.
6069650 | May 30, 2000 | Battersby |
6233003 | May 15, 2001 | Ono |
6980248 | December 27, 2005 | Suda |
7012749 | March 14, 2006 | Mendlovic et al. |
7064895 | June 20, 2006 | Morishima et al. |
61-173289 | August 1986 | JP |
06-160770 | June 1994 | JP |
07-248468 | September 1995 | JP |
07-318858 | December 1995 | JP |
10-239785 | September 1998 | JP |
11-352613 | December 1999 | JP |
2001-056450 | February 2001 | JP |
WO-99/50702 | July 1999 | WO |
WO 00/59235 | October 2000 | WO |
- Ishida, et al., “System of Interactive Three-Dimensional Display”, 2002 Conference Record at the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, pp. 142-143, Mar. 7, 2002.
- Notification of Reasons for Rejection from the Japanese Patent Office, mailed Feb. 3, 2006, in Patent Application No. 2002-092455, and English translation thereof.
- Notification of Reasons for Rejection from the Japanese Patent Office, mailed Aug. 23, 2005, in Patent Application No. 2002-097048, and English translation thereof.
- Hamagishi, G. et al., “Development of a Color 3-D Display Visible to Plural Viewers at the Same Time Without Special Glasses by Using a Ray-Regenerating Method”, Proc. SPIE, vol. 4660, pp. 275-284 (2002).
Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 13, 2003
Date of Patent: Sep 4, 2007
Patent Publication Number: 20030184571
Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Tokyo)
Inventor: Yuzo Hirayama (Yokohama)
Primary Examiner: Andy Rao
Attorney: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.
Application Number: 10/386,492
International Classification: H04N 7/18 (20060101);